


Fajr: First Draft

by 9FoxTails



Series: Fajr: Behind the Scenes [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Blood, Blood and Injury, Fantasy, How Do I Tag, I Tried, Original Character(s), Original Universe, POV Original Character, celestial bodies as characters, original creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:28:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25235467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/9FoxTails/pseuds/9FoxTails
Summary: The Others have 'ruled' over the world Fajr for eons, but their brother, Darkness, has grown jealous of the fame his siblings have and steals their virtues, fleeing to Fajr. As the remaining Others fall into a downward spiral of madness, they seek out some help... But will they be able to return their virtues before it's too late?or: i try my best to write a coherent story about four in-human siblings and probably fail.---Hi, I hate myself and probs won't finish this ever. If you want to continue this work in my stead, let me know and I'll send you the drive links that have the outline in them.
Series: Fajr: Behind the Scenes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835437





	1. Prologue

In the emptiness of the heavens there existed four beings. The Sun, who was wise; The Moon, who was abstinent; The Earth, who was strong; and The Darkness, who was fair. 

The beings, unique in their immortality, sought to create life in the mortal realm and it was for this reason that the beings created Fajr. The Earth, summoned a rock of immense size and carved great crevices into its surface. The Moon, let her liquid moonlight flow into the crevices and as such, moonwater covered most of the rock. The Sun, cast her brilliance unto the rock and allowed plantlife to grow and flourish. The Darkness, shaved a bit of his essence away and placed it on the far side of the rock and as such, night was created. And this was the first miracle. 

Then the Earth took the clay from Fajr and moulded it into a form similar to his own and gave it to the Moon whose gentle breath turned the clay into flesh and bone. And the Earth did this many times, changing the shape of the clay to form creatures of all shapes and sizes, so they could run on land and swim in the sea and swarm in the sky. And this was the second miracle. 

And the beings said to their creations, “We have made you and all that you see. We wish for nothing in return except that you praise all around you and rejoice in the lives you lead.” The creatures loved their creators’ words, and the creatures praised all that they saw and rejoiced in the lives that they led. And this was the third miracle. 

And the Darkness noticed that no one rejoiced in the night, and grew jealous. None of the creatures relished in the darkness and calm brought by the night. So the Darkness betrayed his fellow Others and stole the virtues that the Others relied on. From the Sun, he stole her wisdom and made her foolish; From the Moon, he stole her abstinence and made her reckless; And from the Earth, he stole his bravery and made him cowardly. And the Darkness fled to Fajr, taking the stolen virtues with him. 


	2. The Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, i hate myself and this chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your regularly scheduled PSA: 
> 
> No promises on an update schedule, I'll update when I'm satisfied with the next chapter.  
> The art at the end of chapters and the cover was drawn by me.

Now, having a virtue is a wonderful thing. You are filled with all that the virtue embodies. A virtue is easy for a human to obtain and lose, but for the Others, it was another thing altogether. The Others’ personalities and sanity was dependent on their virtues, so when the Darkness stole them they began the painful process of losing themselves. 

##  Sun POV

I knew the exact moment that my virtue, Wisdom, was stolen from me. 

It was the Darkness who took it. I could feel it as he wrapped his slimy fingers around it and swept it away. It was like losing consciousness, but I was wide awake. Cotton had been stuffed in my ears, only my pulse was audible. 

I’m pretty sure I stumbled a few times before suddenly, everything was in hyper focus. I could see the dirt on the tiles beneath me and the dust in the air. There wasn’t anything to smell really, but I could hear the heartbeats of everyone in the wing I was in. 

I found myself sprinting down the halls, desperate to find either Darkness or the Others before anything else happened. A few creatures nearly tripped over themselves in an attempt to get out of my way as fast as possible, seeing the fear in my eyes. The white halls turned blue and green before I finally found the Others. 

Moon was comforting Earth, who seemed to be oblivious to the outside world, gasping and darted his eyes around the room. His adrenaline faded a bit when he noticed Moon and I. 

“Wh-What was that?” Earth tried to regain his breath while getting up, using Moon as a handhold. His knees shook like a newborn deer, I had no doubts that I looked almost as bad. 

“I’m not 100% sure, but I think that Darkness took our virtues.” My voice echoed a little bit in irritation. The urge to smite that little snake was growing stronger with each breath. “How did he even take the virtues in the first place? They aren't physical objects…” 

“Calm down, Sun. I know you’re feeling on edge, I am too, but we need to come up with a plan before we lose all sense.” Moon was always pretty sensible, even more so now that my thoughts were muddled. I took a deep breath in an attempt to reorganize. 

“Okay, he’s Darkness. If he was still here we would know, which means-” 

“He likely fled to Fajr-” 

“Taking the virtues with him.” Earth panted. 

“Exactly. We should convene in the Viewer to weed out places that he would have gone.” It pleased me that they could finish my sentences, but today it seemed to irritate me, getting on my nerves immensely. 

Moon and I helped Earth regain his balance while we made our way back to the white halls. The chaos I’d caused in my mad scramble had been cleaned up, and all the creatures we passed seemed to be on edge. They likely knew something was up, we weren’t being very subtle about it. They tried not to make it obvious that they were hugging the walls, but the look in their eyes gave them away. The Viewer room archway seemed to revive Moon, who tried to speed us up to get there faster, almost losing her grip on Earth before shaking her head and slowing down. 

The Viewer room was massive. There was a central path that led to the other end of the room which branched off into smaller paths which led to raised pools of water that shimmered and quivered. Sometimes they flickered to show a forest, or the beach, or a bustling city square, but they generally faded from one view of the stars to another. We settled down near the closest pool, setting Earth down on the step that circled the pool so he could watch, while Moon wandered over to the flat control panel facing the main path. She swiped the panel a few times before a 3D view of Fajr appeared over the pool, glimmering and moving with realistic accuracy. 

“Where should we begin our search?” Moon didn’t look up from the panel. 

“If I was Darkness, I-I’d stick with the darkest places I could find. Maybe a fo-forest or s-something.” Earth managed to choke out while shivering. 

Moon’s focus on the panel never wavered, but she did jab at it a bit aggressively before the planet faded into a list of forests. As the list scrolled, I mentally debated each location before giving up. 

“None of these sound like somewhere he’d go, either as Darkness  _ or  _ the fairness virtue! Let’s try somewhere else. Maybe a shady city or somewhere with a high criminal count.” My voice came out with a slight growl and I tried to shake off my irritation. Moon and Earth hadn’t done anything. 

“I’ll see what I can find. Do you think he’d go to a human city or a serpent pit?”

“A city. He’s a snake so he’d know we’d search the pits first, whether we had our virtues or not.”

“Alright.” Moon shifted the list to cities instead. The forest list looked like a kitten next to the city list. I could feel the blood drain from my face. There was no way we could find him. Not on our own. 

“Shit.”

Was that Earth? No, he doesn’t curse like that, it must’ve been Moon. 

“Sun?”

“What?” 

“You  _ never  _ curse…” Earth's gentle voice filtered into my ears. “D-do you think we even have a chance?”

I couldn’t tell him what I was thinking. No way. 

“Maybe. I hate to admit it, but we might need someone outside ourselves to help.”

Moon let out a vicious growl at that. The list flickered violently before glitching out of existence. I looked to Moon. She’d  _ punched _ the panel. Her face was scrunched in anger and looked almost feral while her neck veins bulged. A small voice in the back of my mind said, ‘Oh shit. Maybe that was a bad thing to mention in our current state.’ I couldn’t help but agree with it. 


	3. Finding Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i cry, this is my first story on AO3 and I dont know how to do anything (´；ω；`)

“I hate this.”

_ The remaining Others are currently searching (reluctantly) for a mortal to help them find Darkness.  _

“So you’ve said.”

_ They currently are having little luck. Searching for a mortal who would be willing to help them is harder than it seems.  _

##  Moon POV

_ This sucks.  _ I hated the whole, ‘find a mortal to help’ thing. We weren’t getting  _ any  _ closer to Darkness,  _ especially  _ not while sitting on our asses in this stupid room.  _ None _ of these creatures are gonna be able to help us if Darkness takes advantage of his thief-like nature and vanishes. I sighed heavily before laying back onto the marble.  _ This is pointless and exhausting. _

The pool behind me rippled. Had it actually found someone? I sat up and looked into the water.  _ Oh? _ There was a mortal pictured. A human, standing at about 6ft with blond with amber eyes. He wore a minimal amount of armor and had it hidden partially under his brown cloak.  _ This one might work… _ I moved to the (cracked) control panel to bring up more info about him. 

_ Name: Vane Understone _

_ Gender: Male _

_ Age: 27 years _

_ Height: 5’9” _

_ Occupancy: Healer _

_ Guild: Guardian Angels _

_ As a healer, which makes him valuable. But he’s a human, which means he’s squishier than I’d like.  _

“Hey, guys I think I found one.” I called out to Sun and Earth. They made their way to the pool. 

“Hmm… This one may do, but humans are squishy… Healer, a useful trait… Can’t believe how tall humans have gotten… Who the heck names their guild the Guardian Angels?...” Sun was mumbling to herself again, a stage-whisper mumble but in a silent room it was loud. 

“He l-looks like he can help… A H-healer would be n-nice when we get hurt…” Earth stuttered, I know he’s supposed to be brave… But maybe having a quiet brother wouldn’t go amiss. We have Sun to make up for the lack of noise. 

“I guess it’s time to have a little chat.” Sun declared, standing up. 

_ Why does that sound so menacing?? _

###  \--say hello to the greatest timeskip ever who I’ve named STEVE--

Warping to the surface of Fajr was a bad idea. We may have used the light-tunnel in the main room and shared our power to move more precisely, but we still ended up in the middle of a lake. In the forest. Which isn’t a city  _ or  _ the Guardian Angel guildhall. And the cherry on top was that, while warping, our energy was sucked away and left us in creature form. In a lake. In the forest. Far from society. My instincts  _ screamed  _ that it was Darkness’ influence.  _ Bastard. _

I was lucky that I was a creature that could swim, even if it’s doggy-paddle. Earth was a floaty dragonet and sorta… was. Sun’s deerdog may have been part dog, but she weighed too much. The moment we’d splashed into the water of the lake, she’d sunk to the bottom. Her saving grace was that she didn’t need air to breathe, just the presence of light. She resembles a plant in that aspect. 

I grabbed Earth’s tail and started to paddle to the shore. While paddling, I kept glancing down to see if Sun was walking along the bottom and following our shadows. As we got closer to the shore I stopped looking so that I didn’t trip on a root or a rock while ‘landing’ and go under. 

When we were younger, Darkness thought it’d be funny to dunk me while we were splashing in a lake on Fajr and wasn’t paying attention and discorporated my human form. I had to spend three months in heaven before I had enough energy to warp between worlds as a human. 

As I dragged Earth onto the sand and flipped him over, Sun came stumbling out of the water. Her… uh… skin(?) was a little wrinkled. While I appreciated the fact that she felt the effects of the water too, I was still a little jealous. 

“Well, that was an adventure.” Sun was being sarcastic. She hated water. 

“Sure buddy, but we still need to find that human.” I rolled my eyes, flicking my ears to try and get the water out. “If Earth flew above the trees we could try to find the city. I don’t suspect we’re too far from where we need to be.”

Earth shuffled a bit before flapping his wings, eventually rising above the trees and turning in a circle. 

“We’re actually on the right path,” Earth shouted down at us. “It’s a near straight-shot to the city from here.”

“Wonderful, you can come down now.” Sun shouted back. 

Earth slowly descended to the ground before clambering onto Sun’s back and settling. At the shoulder, Sun was taller than me. My shoulders stood at 3ft, while hers were at 4ft. I turned, leading the way, and plunged headlong into the trees. 


	4. Greetings, Vane Understone. You're now the Chosen One!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> end me

##  EARTH POV

The city was alive. Alive in the sense that my sensitive ear-membranes cried. The noise was unbearable, but the wonderful smells made it worthwhile. Wait, nevermind, that’s the smell of piss. Ew. 

“The Guardian Angel guildhall shouldn’t be too far from here, the hall is allegedly close to the outskirts.” Sun came close to us so we could hear. Moon and I nodded in agreement. 

Moon led us through the city, following the scent of blood. The reasoning being that, where there’s blood, there’s injured creatures. And where there’s injured creatures, there’s healers. It wasn’t long before the noise dimmed and we found ourselves in the shadows between two skyscrapers. Moon lifted her head before huffing, glaring into the shadows ahead. This place creeped me out.  _ I really want to go home now!  _ The shadows in front of us moved and a human came out of them. 

He had white skin and black hair that covered his ears. He wore a red coat with black pants held up by a leather belt. A longsword grip could be seen over his shoulder. His eyes were a warm brown, and looked like they were glowing.  _ Have I mentioned that I want to go home? _

He looked us over once before shrugging past us and disappearing onto the street. I looked back to see  _ another _ human coming out from the shadows. It was Vane. 

He didn’t seem too alarmed at our forms, but he still tensed in surprise. Moon sat down to appear less threatening, but I knew Sun and I were scarier. A wolf you can find anywhere in the woods, but a dragon and a deerdog? Out of the question. 

“I was expecting three humans, not you chuckleheads. Where’s the Others?” Vane muttered while reaching to his belt.  _ He’s gonna pull out a dagger and we’re all gonna get stabbed! I don’t wanna be discorporated! _

“Oi! What’re you muttering about? We’re looking for a healer named Vane Understone, you seen ‘im?” Moon jumped up. The human looked us over again, continuing to reach for his belt. 

My worst fears almost came to light. But instead of pulling out a dagger like I’d thought, he pulled out what looked like a scroll tube. He popped open the tube without looking away from us and quickly held up the scroll so he could still see us while looking at it. 

“Thank the stars! He didn’t pull a dagger out.” I nearly fell off Sun while throwing my head back in relief. Vane lowered the scroll a bit, looking at us apprehensively.  _ He’s looking, did I say something weird?  _

“Uh-huh… Well, Imp’s scrying wasn’t wrong… Hello, I’m Vane Understone. It’s nice to meet you finally, Others.” He put the scroll away and bowed. He looked at us while he did this.  _ How polite. I haven’t seen anyone bow in ages. _

“Nice to meet you as well, Vane. As you’ve said, we are the Others, and we’re here to tell you that you are-” Sun began. 

“The Chosen One. Yup! I’ll lead you guys back to friendlier streets so we can talk at my place.” Vane interrupted while standing up. Sun’s eye(does she have those?) twitched at his interruption. 

“Lead the way, O’ Great Chosen One.” Sun shuffled aside to let him by.  _ She hates it when others interrupt her, except us of course.  _

As Vane led us to brighter, louder, and busier streets I noticed that lots of the creatures said ‘hi’ to him when he passed.  _ Is he famous? _ We made our way to a red-brick building that looked like it was trying to reach the clouds from way down here. I knew it wasn’t possible but the looming presence of the building made me feel like it might fall down on me. I shivered before we moved inside. 

The lobby was warmly lit by lanterns every 10ft and a roaring fireplace lit the far end of the room. There was a desk to the left with a floating light on it. There was a blue-skinned elf behind it, who looked up as we came in but looked down disinterested when she saw Vane. The right side had a pair of silver double doors with a panel next to them. Vane walked to the first set of doors and pushed a button on the panel beside it. The doors dinged and opened  _ into the wall _ . 

I scrambled off of Sun to hide between her legs, lest there be any more strange things.  _ Scary! _ Vane walked through the not-doorway, before motioning from inside for us to follow. Sun went first, likely to see if she’d fit in the first place. It looked like it could only hold four human sized creatures. She fit surprisingly well after sitting in the corner. Vane had his hand on the doorway and motioned for Moon and I. 

“Get in here, promise this won’t kill you. It’s just an elevator.” Vane encouraged. Normally I would've been the first one in, but not right now. 

Moon grabbed my tail pulling me in, the elevator sank a little while we settled. Vane pushed a button from a series on the wall and the not-doors came back and closed us in.  _ Oh shit.  _


	5. We Conjure A Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (´；ω；`)

##  Sun POV

I knew that Earth was unstable, but I didn’t think he’d be unstable enough to have a panic attack in the middle of this moving silver box. He started clawing at the doors while breathing heavily, often choking on the air he was breathing. I wanted to get up and stand over him so he’d feel safer, but I couldn’t move without crushing anyone. I settled on wrapping my long tail around him and pulling him into my chest. He wrapped his arms around me and dug his claws in. I winced, but focused more on calming him down.

“Earth? Earth, you gotta breathe buddy. Follow my breathing, okay?” I called soothingly too him. He gasped erratically, but tried to follow. 

His breathing was slowing and the claws digging viciously into my sides loosened. I let go with my tail as his claws let go of my skin. He took a deep shuddering sigh, curling further into me. I heard a dinging in the background. Looking up I saw that Moon and Vane had stepped out of the box and were motioning for us to follow. I nudged Earth, while slowly standing up. Earth dug his claws back into my sides, hanging from my underside like a koala. I sighed and waddled out. 

The blood slowly dripping from my side and onto the carpet didn’t bother me, but Vane muttered something. He shook his head, walking to a door with the number 73 on it in gold. He pulled out a key and unlocked the door, motioning for us to come inside. I stepped inside, Moon on my heels, and glanced around. The first five feet of the floor was marble, a shoe rack set on the wall near the carpet and a doorless closet on the other side. There were coats of three different sizes hung up and what looked like duffel bags sitting on the shelf above. The hall continued farther, opening into a room I couldn’t see from here.

Vane kicked his shoes off and put them on the rack before moving deeper into the apartment. I was now more concerned about the blood, it started pooling below me, plinking softly with each drop. I nudged Earth, who let go but remained underneath me. I wanted to try to clean the mess I was making but couldn’t. Not only did I not have a functioning maw right now, but Earth was still cowering beneath me. While I was contemplating what to do, Vane came back with a bowl and a roll of bandages.  _ Oh yeah, healer.  _

Vane stepped around to my side and pulled a sponge out of the bowl, rung it, and dabbed at the claw marks. The flow had eased considerably, but still oozed when he wiped it. He ran the cloth over the marks again, before putting the cloth into the pink water and unrolling the bandages. He wrapped them around my midsection, trying his best to not touch Earth. 

“Thank you.” I muttered. 

“No problem. Let's head to the living room.” He smiled while standing up and taking the bowl with him. I wandered after him, Moon sniffing at the bandages on my side. The hall opened into a living room on the right and a kitchenette to the left. I walked to the right and settled onto the three-man couch facing the windows. Earth clambered up onto my back and squished himself between the couch and my back. Moon sat next to me and laid her head on the armrest. I watched Vane move around the kitchen from over my shoulder. He dumped the bowl out and put in under the counter next to the sink before moving to sit on the armchair that faced the couches. 

“So… You three are the Others? I was under the impression that there were four of you…” Vane began awkwardly. 

“There are four of us, but Darkness stole from us and we're disowning him until we get it back. We need your help to retrieve it,” I explained while shuffling to sit more comfortably. 

“How did that happen?”

###  \--oh no, another timeskip… but this one’s name is CARL--

“-and that’s that.” I ended. I’d ended up explaining the whole story to Vane, who’d gotten up to get refreshments. Moon and I couldn’t physically hold something so we shared a bowl on the floor, but Earth was sipping from his glass with no difficulty. Stupid thumbs. 

Vane sipped from his glass while staring at the floor, deep in thought. 

“I think we’re gonna need more help than me if Darkness is as corrupt and slippery as you claim.” Vane said thoughtfully, looking at each of us in turn. 

“Fuck no.” Moon growled. “I objected to finding  _ you _ , do you really want to see what happens when you add more people for me to lash out at?”

“Moon, calm. I agree with you, Vane. We’ll need more help, but it was hard enough for us to find you… Who do you have in mind?” I remarked. 

“I was thinking of my closest friends. They have connections that would be helpful in this situation.”

“Alright, contact them. We’ll see if they’d be willing to help.”

Vane nodded and stood up, moving back to the kitchen. He walked next to a set of doors and picked up an old wall phone. He pushed something and held the phone up to his ear, speaking lowly only a moment later. I turned away and looked at Moon and Earth. Earth had fallen asleep and Moon appeared to be fighting sleep as well.

“Sleep, this will likely take a while.” I muttered to her. She nodded, resting her head on the couch and falling asleep. I followed my advice as well, laying my head on Moon’s flank before drifting off myself. 

\---

It seemed like I’d only been asleep for a moment before I was awoken by the front door hitting the wall. My head shot up, still muddled by sleep and turned to the front hall. Moon leapt up from the couch, likely to defend, but she was as tired as I was and was facing the wrong way. Earth fell over the back of the couch and hit the floor with a dull thud. Vane appeared from a hall opposite the entry hall and spoke loudly at whoever entered, 

“Why are you always throwing open my door? I don’t like having to repair the wall every time you come over.” Vane’s voice was rough and his hair was astray. He was likely sleeping just as we were. 

“But Vaney-waney!! I heard you needed help and came! Do you not want me to- OMG IT’S A BABY DRAGON!!! Do you need my help caring for it!?!” A red-skinned blonde she-demon came barreling in Earth’s direction, grabbing him under the arms and swinging him around. Earth began to shriek, which woke me up immediately and caused Moon to use the couch as a springboard to tackle the demon. The demon dropped Earth and was rammed into the counter by Moon, who leapt over her after she hit the counter and fell to the kitchen floor without a proper surface to land on. The demon quickly spun around, anticipating another attack, but didn’t get one as Moon was trying to gain purchase on the slick floor.

“Holy shit, was that a wolf?? It’s gigantic!” The demon had apparently forgotten about the attack. 

“Yes, that is a wolf. Her name is Moon, she’s one of the ones I told you about last night.” Vane replied, yawning. 

_ Last night? _ I looked to the window. Early morning light was filtering in, turning the room golden-grey.  _ We really did sleep through the rest of the day… And how the hell did I not notice the change in lighting??  _

“Oooooh! Is Zero here yet? I haven’t introduced myself to them!” The she-demon had a million-mile-an-hour attitude, which was exhausting to listen to after just waking up. 

“Hi! I’m Imp, I’m a witch belonging to the Bubbling Cauldron guild. I’m 23, single and willi-”

“Imp, shut up. No one here is interested in that kinda shit.” Vane looked more awake now. He turned to us, “Do you guys want to introduce yourselves or should I?”

Moon’s voice filtered in from the kitchen, ”Go ahead.”

“Alright. Imp, the dragonet you swung around is named Earth-” said dragonet was trying to slink down the hall to try and hide, but Imp quickly picked him up again and held him to her chest. 

“The wolf that attacked you is named Moon-” Moon stumbled around the counter and flashed her canines in greeting, Imp waved. 

“And the deerdog on the couch is named Sun.” Imp did a 180 and stared at me in fascination. I dipped my head slightly. Her eyes gleamed in awe. 

“They are the Others.” Vane said proudly, like having us in his apartment was some sort of achievement. 

“Wow. Way to hit blunt, Vane.” I drawled sarcastically. 

“You’re really the Others? Weren’t there four-” Imp looked confused.

“Yes, there are four of us. Did Vane not explain the situation properly?” I glanced at Vane. He scratched the back of his head, guilty. 

I heard the door opening again. I glanced to the hall again. This time, the door closed softly instead of slamming shut. The human we saw in the alley came into view. His hair looked more unruly than I remembered and the longsword he was wielding last time was replaced by a red-hilted katana that hung from his belt. He glanced at me before looking between Vane and Imp.  _ Is this that ‘Zero’ character Imp was talking about earlier? _

“Am I late?” Punctual? I liked him already. 

“Nah, I was introducing Imp to the people we’re helping.” Vane gestured to us. 

“Introduce me.” He seemed like the leader-type, we’d get along nicely… In theory. 

“The dragonet is Earth, the wolf is Moon, and the deerdog is Sun. Others, this is Zero.” Moon flicked an ear this time, she seemed to like him too. 

“Nice to meet you, what are we helping with? They look fine to me.” His eyes bored holes into Vane. Did that idiot healer not explain  _ anything _ ?? 

“The short version is that Darkness stole their virtues and they need our help to get them back.” Vane waved his arms while sliding around Moon and grabbing a pan and eggs from the fridge. “They found me first and I called on you guys cuz you might have an idea on where he might’ve gone.”

Vane started cracking eggs into the pan as he spoke. Imp moved into the couch area and sat down on the armchair, refusing to let go of Earth who struggled in her hold. Moon wandered by Zero and sat down next to me again. Zero moved into the kitchen to help Vane, dropping his sword and coat next to my couch. 

“I have a couple ideas but our best bet would be to ask the Fatum. They know virtually everything.” Zero mused as he pulled a loaf of bread and packaged meat strips from the fridge, putting a couple bread slices in a metal box and some meat strips on a square pan which he threw into the oven. 

“You’re probably right, but I don’t think it’d hurt to ask my fellow witches if they’ve heard anything recently.” Imp added while stroking Earth’s head spines. 

“When do we start?” Vane asked while plating the food he and Zero had made. 


	6. Everything Goes Very Wrong Very Quickly

##  Moon POV

So that ‘Fatum’ group Zero mentioned earlier? Turns out they’re an unofficial guild. Run by criminals. Lovely. 

Zero was leading us down a worn staircase inside of a two story building on the edge of the city. It smelled like mildew and blood. I was having no difficulty with the stairs, but Earth’s legs were too short to walk so he was toddler-dropping between each one and Sun’s leg-bone-things were wider than the stairs so she ended up going sideways. Vane had cast a magelight spell earlier so we could see, but it didn’t reach very far and someone seemed to have spilt something slippery on the damn stairs and we slipped the whole way down. 

Zero stopped at a door at the bottom of the staircase and knocked. We had to wait two minutes before someone came to the door. The female who opened the door had neon pink hair tinted purple by the blacklight above her and a face mask with oni teeth pictured on it. Her black jacket was opened to reveal a white skin-tight tank top accompanied by the shortest shorts I’d ever seen. If not for the fact that she was wearing skimpy clothing, we could’ve been buddies. 

Her yellow eyes revealed her were-nature and flashed when they passed over me. She nodded to Zero and stepped aside to let us in. The moment I passed the threshold I was subject to heavy bass that threatened to rearrange my bones.  _ Must’ve been a silencing spell written into the doorway. _

Zero led us in. Everywhere you looked there were spray painted tags and flashing neon lights. Weregirl came from behind us and motioned to follow. We aimed for a bar to the left, staying far from the dancefloor, but still ended up fighting elbows and dancers. 

I nipped at the heels of several creatures before we met a door just beyond the bar. A backroom. Weregirl knocked on the door before opening it and motioning us in. Zero went in with no hesitation. Weregirl winked at me before shutting the door, closing off all sound from the outside.  _ Another silencing spell…  _

Turning back to the room we’d entered, the first thing I noticed was the angel perched on a couch on a two-step dais. 

**_(I’d describe them, but I don’t feel like it.)_ **

**__ **

The glare they shot our direction when we came in wasn’t anything an angel would’ve done, which led me to believe that this was glamour. They were likely a malevolent being under the guise of an angel. I sniffed the air to try and catch their scent.  _ Brimstone? _ If I’d had any doubts, I didn’t have them now.  _ Demon.  _ Ironic, and very cliche. Almost like the author had no other ideas for the twist on what this creature could be. Moving on.  **(AN:TT-TT)**

“Zero! Love! How wonderful of you to pay me a visit!” The not-angel stood, stepping down and attempting to give Zero a hug. Keyword attempt. Zero whipped a dagger from nowhere and held it to the angel's neck. The angel skipped back playfully, holding its hands up in mock surrender. 

“Yeah, yeah. Not a hugger, got it,” The angel turned to us, narrowing its ice-blue eyes suspiciously. “How about you introduce me to your… Companions?”

I didn’t like this guy one bit. If not for the fact that they might know where Darkness was hiding, I would’ve hightailed it out of here ages ago. I flashed a fang as Zero started talking, flipping a hand in our direction lazily. 

“These three are the Others. The wolf is the Moon, the dragon is the Earth, and the deerdog-thing is the Sun.” Earth waved a bit and Sun dipped her head in greeting, clearly liking this as much as I was. I turned my snarly face into a wolfish smirk, but the angel wasn’t intimidated. 

“Really? And what could such all-knowing and powerful creatures want with little ‘ol me?” The angel made an innocent face,  _ clearly  _ mocking us. “Surely I have nothing to offer.”

The angel took another glance at us, confusion swimming in their gold eyes. ... _ Did they have gold eyes a minute ago? _

“I see,” The angel was on edge, but turned their back to us and walked back to the couch, sinking gracefully onto its white cushions. “I can offer information on where the Darkness may be, but it wi-”

“-will come for a price,” Sun interrupted. “What sort of payment do you require?”

The angel was clearly put off by Sun’s interruption, they’d probably never been interrupted ever and this gave me immense satisfaction.  _ That expression just made my day. _ The angel cleared their throat, regaining composure. 

“Leave me with Zero for a bit, and you’ll get what you need,” Zero’s expression darkened immediately. He clearly knew why the not-angel wanted him to themself. His reaction did nothing but put me on edge, and I could feel the Others tensing beside me. 

“Promise you’ll get him back,” The angel made a shooing motion, and the four weres (who I apparently neglected to notice) began shoving us out. I backed up, clearly not wanting to go, but Zero nodded in our direction. 

“It’s fine. I’ll deal with  _ this one _ and we’ll be on our way,” I didn’t like the unplaceable look in his eyes but I turned and walked out anyway. If he knew what he was getting into, I’d leave it to him. He knew more about this place than I did. _ Even if I hate admitting it. _


	7. It Suddenly Gets Worse Than We Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the title tho

##  EARTH POV

To make a long story very, very short, I was bored. Zero had kicked us out of the backroom over an hour ago and still had yet to come out. While I was glad we didn’t have to spend another second in the room with that nameless demon, I was also concerned about Zero. A lot can happen in an hour. 

Vane and Imp had wandered off 15 minutes after we got kicked out and I had yet to see them again. Moon was taking a nap under the stool I was perched on and Sun was in a deep discussion with the bartender about something to do with ‘solar power’… Whatever that was. 

I swirled the liquid in the tankard in front of me, watching it refract against the silvery inside. The flashes reminded me of Moon’s moonlight when she let it flow over the budding Fajr. Like crashing waves covered in stars. 

“Oi, kid. You gonna answer me or not?”  _ Nani? _ I turned abruptly in my seat, tensing upon seeing the tall demon in front of me. “So?” 

His attire reminded me of the clothes that the First Ones used to wear, very posh and unnecessarily glammy. The only thing that looked like it had seen any kind of action was his dark knee-high boots and the axe strapped to his waist. His hair was as black at night, framing and falling into his face a bit, making him look alluring and mysterious. The glare cast at me wasn’t helping me answer in a calm manner. 

“Ah-um…” I stumbled trying to find the words to a question I didn’t know. “Who-who’re you?” 

“Eh?? You don’t know who I am? Listen here kid, and listen close. I’m Yama Fourthstar, and you’re in my seat.” His eyes narrowed, flashing a dangerous red-gold at my question. “You gonna get up or are we gonna have a problem?”

Distantly I felt the Others begin to move, tensing in preparation for something, but I was too occupied by the sinister demon in front of me. 

“Ah! I’m sorry! I didn’t-didn’t know this was you-your seat! There wasn’t a-a nametag an-and the bartender didn’t s-say anything-” I started panicking, twisting my claws and shuffling on the stool awkwardly. I jumped when I heard Moon start growling. I glanced down and her face was dark. Her hackles were raised, her ears were flat on her head, her lips were pulled back to reveal her sharp incisors, and her claws were digging into the wood floor. Her eyes were glowing a menacing gold, challenging the demon in front of me. 

“Get out of my seat ‘n tell your  _ mutt _ to back down and  _ maybe  _ I’ll forget this ever happened.” He smirked widely, a menacing look adorned his face. I started to move to get down. 

“Hey M-moon, maybe we should-” I didn’t get to finish. I heard something whistling through the air, ducking instictively, as a long pale object soared over my head and into Yama’s chest, effectively knocking him to the floor. I turned to the source of the (now identified) tail, finding Sun with a dark look aimed at the prone Yama. A shade looking creature rushed to his side, checking for injuries. 

“You dare speak to my brother in such a foul way,  _ demon? _ Perhaps I should return the greeting you gave with one of my own,” Sun stepped forward menacingly, her hoof-paw-feet clicking as claws emerged from the ends. 

“I am Sun, the first Other, creator of Fajr, and the deity of the sun. And you,  _ sir _ , have incurred my wrath.” I could see spines growing on her tail with each word and her face splitting with each step, blood leaking from the slits that grew by the second. Moon was at her flank, ready to back her up if things got nasty. Based on the expression on Yama’s face, nasty was inevitable. 

(angry sun above^)

Yama got to his feet and pulled a wicked looking axe from his hip. The shade got up from where he was crouched and followed Yama’s lead, pulling out pitch black twin daggers as long as his forearms. 

“The Sun, hah? I don’t believe you, and for lying to me I’M GONNA  _ KILL  _ YOU,” Yama lunged forward swinging the axe at Sun’s head. Sun hissed viciously, face splitting into fourths, spraying minor amounts of blood. She ducked and dug her teeth into his left shin. Her tail wrapped itself around his weapon arm, coiling and tightening like an anaconda, thorns leaving large bloody gashes. Moon used Sun’s back as a springboard and tackled the shade who attempted to free Yama from Sun’s grasp. 

I scrambled up and over the bar, hiding behind the edge, watching them fight. The creatures surrounding us had started screaming the moment Yama lunged, and were just now beginning to flee the scene. The weres stationed around the dancefloor were struggling to get close due to the panicking crowd. The bartender had disappeared, probably into the open trapdoor under the bar. A slamming door to my left pulled my attention for a second, only for me to turn back to the fight as Yama was thrown over the bar and into the bottles on the wall. 

The golden-brown liquid covered him, making his skin glint dangerously in the low light. He now had tiny horns on his forehead and a small spaded tail lashed behind him. I felt silly that I had been afraid of a lesser demon, the lowest of all demons, but quickly became afraid as his amber orbs turned to me. He hissed, ivory fangs suddenly revealed, and attempted to strike me with his - _ excuse me what _ \- blood-coated axe. His swing was interrupted by Zero blocking with his red katana. 

“What’s going on here?” Zero was definitely not in the mood to play. His expression was cold. I thought I saw a flash of something in his eyes, but it was gone before I could truly identify it. 

“Ah, Zero! Nocturna’s little  _ pet _ ! How  _ wonderful  _ of you to join us!” Yama backed up, lowering his weapon. His words may have been semi-nice, but his voice dripped with sarcasm. 

“I asked what’s going on. Why were you attacking my charges?” Zero kept his katana at his side. The glare he sent at Yama could have killed. I shivered at the thought of that gaze in my direction. 

“You know these, fakes? Wow, Zero, I didn’t think my opinion of you could get any worse but here we are!” Yama gestured to each of us with his axe before turning back to Zero, an ugly look on his face. “Why would you align yourself with these losers?”

“I wouldn’t call us losers when  _ you're  _ the ones who’re injured,” Sun spat. “You didn’t manage to land a single blow on me.” 

Her tail lashed behind her, coated in blood. The spikes, claws, and split face were gone but the blood remained. It ran in rivets down her neck and chest. Moon wasn’t much better. Her muzzle was splotched with blood and her claws were still impaled in the chest of the shade, who was smart and hadn’t attempted to move her. 

("the shade" or Wolf above^)

“Who made the mess on my floors?” The angel, Nocturna, strode out of the backroom while pulling their robe over their shoulder. 

“It was these mangy dogs, sire,” Yama bowed. “They attacked me and Wolf unjustly and we were forced to defend ourselves.”  _ That little- _

“Nocturna, I can’t speak for my companions but-” Zero started. He was likely going to try to defend us. 

“Silence. Zero, despite our relationship I am inclined to trust my own. You and your temporary companions are unwelcome here. Once you rid yourself of them we will welcome you back. Leave.” Nocturna’s voice was very business-like, and their eyes flashed on the last word. Zero looked like he wanted to protest, but nodded stiffly. 

“Come on, Others. We have no need to stay here any longer.” Zero quickly walked to the exit, not really caring if we were following. 

Vane and Imp, who apparently vanished during the fight, were on his heels. Moon looked between Sun and I before trotting after the three. I used a wing assisted hop to make my way to Sun’s back, I almost slipped due to the blood but managed to gain purchase before she really started moving. 

I turned to look back just before the door shut, only to see Yama giving us a dark grin that promised pain whenever we’d meet next. 

Sun spoke up once we’d reached ground level again, 

“So Imp, you mentioned something about fellow witches?”


	8. Insert Clever Title Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some bad things happen but it's OK! They're all main characters and that means they can't actually die cuz Main Characters are OP like that. 
> 
> ...It's also been four months since I last actually added a chapter to the doc I'm writing this on...  
> Depression is a bitch who I don't remember inviting into this house

##  SUN POV

In the last chapter, I mentioned the witches Imp knew… We never went to see them. Imp had offhandedly mentioned that her witch friends wouldn’t be the best company around three gods-turned-animals, which was fine cuz Zero apparently got some good info while in the backroom with Nocturna. 

At the current moment we’re on a steam-powered tin can called a bus, it’s supposed to take us to a park in the woods, where we’ll take a trail to the entrance of a cave where Dark is supposed to be hiding. 

“When are we gonna get there?”

“We’ll get there when we get there.”

The ride is supposed to take a few hours, since it’s so far, so I’ve settled in the very back with Moon and Earth. We’ve been trying to nap, but the bus floor is hella hard and everyone else on the bus can’t shut up. If I could perform spells, I’d cast a Bubble of Silence around us. Then again, if I could cast spells we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. 

“...Are we there yet?”

“Earth, shut up. I don’t know, okay? I’m not the one driving the bus. Go pester Imp, maybe she’ll have an answer.” 

Earth and Moon have been arguing across me since we started moving. Earth stood up and walked to Imp’s seat, climbing up and sitting next to her, mouth open before he’d even finished sitting down. 

I sighed, closing my eyes(?) for a moment. The white noise of the bus rattling down the road was calming in a way. 

“Sun, do you think we’ll be able to stop Dark?” The soft voice of Moon filtered past the bus’ chatter. I opened my eyes and turned my head to her. She sounded so small. Her muzzle was laid on her paws while she leaned into me, eyes gazing at the floor contemplatively. 

“I can’t say for sure, but we know his methods and we have the mortals, but…” I trailed off. I wasn’t sure at all that we could stop Darkness. Sure we had the mortals who could fight and cast spells, but I didn’t know if even  _ they _ could defeat Darkness. 

“...I think the odds will be in our favor. As far as we know, we have the advantage. We have Vane, who can heal and cast spells; Imp who can probably pull some witchy shit and melt Dark’s face off; and we have Zero, who is the leader-type and will think of a plan should ours fail.” 

“You do have a plan, right?”

“...” 

I didn’t have a plan. 

###  \--a timeskip dedicated to [_GuardianOfTheLoaf_](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianOfTheLoaf/pseuds/GuardianOfTheLoaf) on AO3 who writes fucking _amazing_ fics--

I still don’t have a plan. It’s been four hours, we’ve arrived and are standing outside the cave, and I still don’t have a plan.

We’ve entered the creepy dark cave that smells like old stones and metal, led by Vane who cast a magelight spell, Earth who won’t stop talking to Imp, Moon who can’t help but sniff everything, and I  _ still don’t have a plan. _

We’ve walked into four different wrong chambers so far, but I can tell we’re getting close as I can feel the faint energy that my virtue gives off. It’s hard to describe the feeling of my virtue, aside from the fact that it felt weird but that could be easily attributed to the fact that it wasn’t with me, but I think the closest I can get is… Walking into an underground stone-nature-water library that hasn’t seen anyone in eons. It’s an ancient thing that emanates years upon years of knowledge, heavy knowledge. 

I’m startled from my inner Virtue ramblings by the sound of Moon and Earth taking off into the gloom. Imp shouted after them, 

“OI! Where the fuck-”

Oh.  _ OH _ . 

There. In front of me. The Virtues. There they are… What kind of  _ idiot _ puts the Virtues on a stalagmite in the middle of a pit? I know for a fact that Darkness can’t fly because he’s either a snake or a human so how-... Irrelevant, there are more important things to attend to. 

I dash over to the edge of the pit beside Moon and Earth. Moon is pacing slightly and sniffing in the direction of what now appears to be a large bottle containing the Virtues. I glance into the darkness in the pit and I swear I can see something  _ writhing _ down there. Hopefully it’s not a nest of Blood Snakes, cuz that would actually suck. I turn to Earth. 

“Earth, you can fly, do you think you can grab the Virtues?” Moon inquires while her eyes flicker between the bottle and the writhing darkness. 

“Maybe, it won’t be any-anything fast b-but I think I can do it.” Earth shuffles while spreading his wings slightly. 

“Alright.” 

Earth pushes off from the edge and slowly wobbles his way to the bottle. There must be an updraft we can’t feel from here if he’s wobbling so much. 

“Moon, he’s gonna take a while, we should check out the rest of this area to see if Darkness left some residual energy for us to track.” Moon nods in my direction, heading back to the entrance of the tunnel. I turn in the opposite direction and start making a slow circle around the edge of the pit. 

As I’m making my circle (and occasionally peering into the pit) I notice a series of stones almost opposite the pit from the entrance that’re partially covered in a glowing toxic green viscous liquid. As I step closer I notice the stones mark the entrance to another tunnel. The light from the Virtues doesn’t reach far into the tunnel, but it does give me enough light to see something I’d rather  _ not  _ right now. Spines. Black fade to blue spines.  _ Lizard Howler _ spines. With wide eyes (can I even do that?) I turn back to the green stones. That’s Lizard Howler  _ blood _ . This is a Howler  _ nest _ . 

I begin to back up very slowly from where the entrance is when Imp calls out, 

“Hey! Why’d you guys run off like that? We’re part of this quest too ya know!” 

I whirl around in a near-panic. We’re in a cave with _Lizard Howlers_. We’re in a cave with a _Lizard Howler_ _nest_. We’re gonna _die_ in this cave if Imp doesn’t _shut up._ I can’t run to her, that’d give away my position to any enemies who haven’t already seen me. I can’t shout, that’d do the same thing. I frantically gesture (with as much grace as I can as a deerdog) for Imp to shut up, but she doesn’t get the message. 

“Hah? Sun what’re you doin’ wavin’ your limbs about for? OOH! Shiny rock!” 

I send a deadpan stare in her direction. How has this woman survived for so long? I stiffen when I hear a hiss-growl-whine-maon behind me. Oh  _ shit _ . I slowly turn my head to look behind me. There are three Lizard Howlers crouched behind me. They have visible ribs and missing spines. Sharp teeth that aren’t perfectly aligned and cracked claws. These are  _ starving _ Lizard Howlers. I am now in deeper shit than before. 

The one on the far left crouches to jump. I decide I can’t fight all three and rather like living (despite being an immortal god) and book it. I see Earth making his way back to solid ground in the corner of my eye, but it’s too late to change my trajectory to avoid him becoming a target. I let thorns rip out from my tail and take a spinning stop, hitting two of the Howlers head on. The third one tries to lunge from behind the two prone Howlers but gets a face full of Moon’s teeth. 

While Moon and the third Howler are busy, I turn to face the first two Howlers who are now getting up. They look scarier and angrier than before. The left one clearly took the brunt of the thorns while the right one took more blunt force from being hit by their friend. They rattle their spines in anger before charging at me again. I don’t have the advantage of surprise this time and the Howlers have learnt their lesson about my tail. The left one charges at me, and I deflect him with my horns (antlers?). Left gets impaled a bit and while I’m flinging him into the pit behind me, Right slides under me and shoves his spines into my soft underbelly. I leap back and up a few feet but the deed has been done. I try to keep standing long enough to throw Right into the pit with his friend, but my legs give out the moment I land. 

My sight is blurred a bit, but I do manage to fend off two or three attacks from Right with my antlers(?) before Moon comes to the rescue. She must have finished with the third one. My head bobs a bit as I watch her drag Right to the pit by his neck. I’m still watching her glare into the pit when my consciousness decides to check out. 

\---

Lizard Howler Art

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise it actually gets better tho

**Author's Note:**

> im sorry, i tried


End file.
